ADA Asks FTC Healthcare Task Force to Scrutinize Dental Insurance Competition and Contracting Practi

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Posted: May 7, 2026

ADA Asks FTC Healthcare Task Force to Scrutinize Dental Insurance Competition and Contracting Practices

Edited by Dentaltown staff

The American Dental Association has asked the Federal Trade Commission to include dental insurance and dental benefit administration in the agenda of its newly formed Healthcare Task Force, citing market concentration, opaque contracting practices and network leasing as competition concerns affecting patients and dentists.

In an April 29 letter to Emma Burnham, director of healthcare in the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, ADA President Richard J. Rosato and Executive Director Nader A. Nadershahi outlined five recommendations and pointed to recent federal data on dental insurance market structure. ADA cited a March 2026 Government Accountability Office analysis finding that the combined market share of the three largest stand-alone dental insurers in the group market ranged from 38% to 97% across states and reached 80% or more in 11 states.

The letter argues that concentrated dental insurance markets can affect patients through narrow networks, reduced provider choice, opaque benefit limitations and administrative barriers, while dentists may face take-it-or-leave-it contracts and limited practical alternatives. It also raises concerns about ERISA preemption creating accountability gaps in self-funded dental coverage, which the letter notes accounts for nearly half of all coverage in the United States.

Network leasing receives particular attention. ADA wrote that arrangements extending contracted rates to additional entities without clear disclosure and affirmative provider consent may reduce transparency and weaken independent negotiation. The association said it supports requiring a dentist’s signature to opt in to amendments and new network arrangements, along with advance notice of contract and fee schedule changes.

The letter also flags Medicare Advantage supplemental dental benefits, citing ADA Health Policy Institute research that only 8.4% of Medicare Advantage plans offer a comprehensive dental benefit and only 4.1% of beneficiaries are enrolled in one.

ADA’s five recommendations ask the task force to include dental insurance in its competition agenda, examine opaque contracting practices, use the FTC’s convening authority for workshops or roundtables, treat transparency as a competition-enhancing safeguard, and coordinate with the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and state regulators.

The Healthcare Task Force was created March 20 by FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson to coordinate the agency’s enforcement and advocacy work in healthcare across its Bureaus of Competition, Consumer Protection and Economics, the Office of Policy Planning and the Office of Technology. ADA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs James Schulz is listed as the contact for follow-up discussion with FTC staff.

Sources:
American Dental Association, letter to FTC Bureau of Competition on the FTC Healthcare Task Force, April 29, 2026: ada.org/ada-input-ftc-healthcare-task-force
Federal Trade Commission, “FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson Launches Healthcare Task Force,” March 20, 2026: ftc.gov/healthcare-task-force-launch
ADA News, “ADA urges FTC Healthcare Task Force to scrutinize dental insurance markets, improve transparency,” April 30, 2026: adanews.ada.org/ada-urges-ftc-healthcare-task-force
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